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Agent 2994
Agent 2994 was a former SPARTAN-III Gamma Company trainee and later became a member of HPA, a top-secret ONI assassination program. Later, he would be contracted by the UNSC Office of Naval Intelligence to become a trainer for the Myrmidon Program, where he would rechristen himself with the name of "Apollo" after the Greek god of the sun and archery, and in homage of Artemis, a fellow operator. Early Life Very little is known about Agent 2994's early life, as he himself remembers little about it. What is known is that he was selected as a candidate for the SPARTAN-III program and brought in with the rest of Gamma Company for training. Less than a week into training, however, he and sixteen others were singled out for "recruitment" into ONI's newly formed High Priority Assassination Program because their genes were compatible with SPARTAN-II level augmentations. The HPA trainees were isolated from all other children and subjected to such extreme indoctrination that many of them, including 2994, forgot their own names. Training Emerging from three months of constant indoctrination, the trainees were immediately plunged into a grueling training program designed by instructors who wished to outdo the SPARTAN program in terms of harshness and efficiency, often using such extreme methods such as beating a trainee with a weapon he had failed to load correctly. The trainees were meant to work alone rather than in groups, and so the instructors promoted an insanely competitive atmosphere, constantly pitting their charges against each other. This made friendships impossible, and when the exercises became live-fire runs, two of the trainees were killed. 2994 received advanced training in almost all military fields, from weapons operation to covert infiltration. He was distinguished as the third best member of the program, outmatched only by Agent 2789 (in second) and Agent 2995 who held first and had renamed herself Artemis when she forgot her first name. Missions When the time came for the augmentation process to begin, the HPA agents were given augmentations akin to those received by the SPARTAN-IIs. With the deaths of only three candidates, the newly christened "agents" began to train with their new speed and strength. After re-learning how to fight in his new body, Agent 2994 had to pass one more test put to him by his instructors, who thought he was less capable of murder than his fellow agents. 2994 was ordered to execute a helpless prisoner. Once he had done so, 2994 was sent to kill a colonial official who was selling secrets to rebels. 2994 succeeded in this and all of his successive missions 2994 was sent on even more missions, during which he surpassed Agent 2789 but could never match Artemis, although he came closer every mission. The abrupt end of the Human-Covenant War did not cause the HPA's long list of targets to lessen, as the galaxy remained as war-torn as ever. Snakehead While the Human-Covenant War did not bring about peace, it did put an halt to the amount of targets that could be considered high priorities. Agent 2994 soon found himself with nothing more to do than battle poorly trained and equipped mercenaries and criminals while chasing after minor targets. He quickly became bored by these assignments, and was always hoping for something more challenging. His wish was granted when he was paired with Agent 2995 for a mission to take down a rising insurrectionist leader, a partnership that both agents despised. Over the course of the mission, 2994 abandoned his usually self-centered tactics to support 2995, who ended up making the kill. With the mission ended, 2994 believed that he would go back to his normal, routine missions. He could not have been more wrong. The ONI quickly discovered that a double-agent had infiltrated its upper levels. When they launched an investigation, the terrorist began murdering as many officers as he could, eventually killing the HPA's vice president. 2994 was sent in to kill the double agent, and found himself neck deep in a firefight when the enemy smuggled an insurgent commando force directly onto ONI's flagship, the Point of No Return. As the battle raged throughout the ship, 2994 discovered his target attempting to send top-secret intelligence to an unknown receiver. The traitor committed suicide when 2994 attempted to apprehend him, but a surviving tech expert managed to discover the organization the information had nearly been sent to. The agent had been working for Snakehead, a large terrorist army that was seeking to unite the various insurrectionist factions. With a crisis on its hands, ONI ordered every operative at its disposal to focus their attention on Snakehead. Reacting to the threat, Snakehead's leader, General Herman Richelieu, had his forces seize a UNSC shipyard, capturing many half-completed ships and, more importantly, several prototype NOVA bombs. He threatened to unleash the NOVAs on Earth and several key colony worlds if the UNSC did not step down and allow him to take power. Realizing that Richelieu was key to the entire Snakehead operation, ONI dispatched Agent 2994 to the shipyard to kill Richelieu and recapture the NOVA bombs. He was aided in this mission by Agent 2789, the agent he had surpassed in order to become the HPA's second best operative. 2789 harbored no grudges against 2994, and the two of them developed a hesitant friendship. The two agents first attacked the ship where the NOVAs were being kept, Snakehead's flagship Kremlin. After a harrowing battle, they captured the NOVAs, packing them on a small transport and setting it on a course for the system's sun. Furious at the loss of the bombs, General Richelieu began firing missiles down on the planet that the shipyards orbited. With civilian casualties rising, the UNSC fleet attacked the Snakehead forces while Agents 2994 and 2789 stormed the shipyard's main orbital, from which Richelieu was directing his forces from. Fighting through wave after wave of Snakehead troops, the two of them reached the orbital's bridge. They unwittingly walked directly into a trap Richelieu had set in order to get revenge on the operatives who had ruined his plans. Seeing no other option available to him, 2789 sacrificed himself to give 2994 a chance to kill Richelieu. With their general dead and their forces crumbling, most of Snakehead's remaining soldiers either fled or surrendered. The loss of the only friend he had ever known shook 2994, making him uncertain as to whether or not his way of life was the right one. However, he continued his missions for the HPA, always spurring himself on to new heights. Revolt A few months after the Snakehead incident, three HPA operatives rejected their indoctrination and turned against the UNSC, protesting that they were allowed no lives outside of their missions. The rebels stormed a UNSC base and barricaded themselves inside its command center, demanding safe passage off the planet. Being the best operative in the area, Agent 2994 was ordered to retake the command center and kill the revolting agents. With a special forces team as backup, 2994, whose friendship with 2789 had given him a new feeling of brotherhood with his fellow agents, attempted to reason with the rebels, who responded by asking him to join them. Once again finding his way of seeing the world conflicted, 2994 refused and retook the command center, killing all of the agents within while sustaining several wounds to his upper chest. Although he made a full recovery, 2994 found himself questioning his orders more often and wondering whether or not the rebels had been right to try to gain lives of their own. Incident on Rager XII Retirement 2994 continued to complete a slew of missions long after his encounter with SPARTAN 141, but he began to realize that none of them were worth his talents and skills. With many of the true "hight priority" missions being immediately assigned to Artemis and the rest being handled by the growing UNSCSOCOM, he and the rest of the surviving agents were being given meaningless assignments that made a mockery of the their extensive training and experience. Haunted by nightmares about 2789's death and the various assassinations he'd carried out, 2994 finally took advantage of the "backdoor policy" that allowed members of secret ONI programs the option of retiring and left the service in 2573. He eventually settled on the colony world of Bifröst in the Alpha Corvi System, where he took on work as a civilian engineer with HRV Armament Company.Halo: Beckon Forth Sunrise His tranquil retirement was interrupted when Operation: RALLY VIOLET-which was under the command of Artemis-was launched to convince him to rejoin the military. Faced with the opportunity to train the next generation of SPARTANS, the Myrmidons, 2994 agreed and became an instructor in the new program. Over the course of the Myrmidon training he would accept the new name of Apollo, and when the Myrmidons graduated he followed Artemis's lead and joined Task Force 51 Excerpt here. Midgard Personality Relationships With Others Due to his brutal upbringing at the hands of the HPA Program, Agent 2994 has no compunctions about killing any one in any way; if he has been ordered to kill someone or killing someone helps or allows him to complete his mission, he will do it without thought or regret. Prior to his retirement from and rejoining of the military, he rejected most forms of friendship or companionship, and preferred to work alone as he has been taught. Most of his social interactions took the form of briefings and debriefings with ONI personnel, and even then he limited his input to a minimum, mostly speaking only when spoken to. In recent years, however, 2994 has shown more interest in interacting with those around him (besides killing and maiming them). This has been shown primarily through what could be described as a "crush" on Artemis. He discovered this when the two of them were ordered to work together in order to assassinate a rebel leader, something neither of them relished. During the mission, Artemis found herself surrounded and was beginning to be overwhelmed. 2994 was had the opportunity to leave his rival to die while he took the kill, but instead came to reinforce Artemis, who went on to kill their target. After their debriefing, 2994 made a small, halfhearted attempt to ask his one-time partner out. She responded by breaking his jaw, and 2994 later reflected that it was probably only because he had saved her that she hadn't killed him. Nevertheless, he didn't regret asking her. Some time after this, during the Snakehead incident, 2994 developed a friendship with Agent 2789 during their mission to assassinate General Richelieu. For the one of the first times in his life, 2994 found himself caring for the well being of his fellow agents. Seeing how easygoing 2789 was served as a fresh and eye-opening experience for the ruthless and mission-oriented 2994. Instead of constantly worrying about how missions would affect his ranking and statistics, 2789 instead focused on the lives his missions would save, a tactic which "kept him sane" amidst all of the horrible actions he was ordered to commit. With 2789's death at the hands of General Richelieu, however, 2994 became even more adverse to making friends and continued his cold and efficient way of completing missions. He had gained some degree of compassion, and attempted to save the revolting HPA agents by asking them to stand down. When they refused and he was forced to kill them, he felt only regret at their deaths. He also began to have nightmares, most of them involving 2789's death and his execution of the rebellious agents. While these dreams faded after his retirement, they reappeared after he was deployed on Midgard with the rest of TF51. Feelings Towards Others Agent 2994 had trouble seeing other people as actual people with lives and futures like himself, an intentional byproduct of being conditioned to kill so efficiently. He usually ignored civilians during missions unless they got in his way, and had the freedom to kill them if they did so. When ordered to leave no witnesses, he would slaughter every person who did become a witness regardless of age or status. 2994 harbored a certain disdain for members of the SPARTAN Program for a few reasons. First and foremost on this list were his feelings that they got the "easier" training as well as all of the glory; due to its top-secret nature, the exploits of HPA operatives would never be revealed to the public. Secondly, SPARTANs formed an "unwelcome variable" for HPA agents during missions. During one assignment to assassinate a high-level UNSC official, 2994's mission was almost ruined by a squad of SPARTAN trainees who happened to be in the military complex at the time and had no knowledge of the official's corruption. Finally, 2994 felt that all of the HPA agents managed to achieve more than any SPARTAN ever could in less time; he and his fellow agents were running missions before the SPARTAN-IIIs (their former comrades) even graduated. His beliefs were met with either agreement or rejection when proposed to other agents, depending on the attitude of the agent involved. His feelings on this matter would later be dampened by his encounter and battle with SPARTAN 141. Loyalties Agent 2994 was subjected to three months of non-stop indoctrination before he officially began his HPA training. This torturous ordeal had different effects on the various HPA trainees. Agent 2994 did not develop a complete and unquestioning loyalty to the UNSC as did some, but instead merely became psychologically incapable of betrayal. The HPA became the only life he knew how to live, and treason became imbedded as wrong in his mind. He has grown to privately question orders and directives in his head, but always follow the order no matter what his personal misgivings about it might be. The occurrence of these misgivings began to increase after the death of Agent 2789 and his suppression of the "HPA revolt". Once deployed with TF51, he still pondered the UNSC's actions and directives, but remained respectful of the command structure. This respect began to dim after hiring Agent 2042 to illegally hack into the UNSC's database and when he chose to turn a blind eye to 2042's activities on Midgard. Pastimes When he was not in the field, Agent 2994 was generally quartered on an ONI frigate or at a base. During these times of respite, 2994 developed a large reading habit and would delve into any book he could get his hands on. Despite his general dislike of SPARTANs, he had an almost worshipful admiration of the Master Chief, a trait exacerbated by his readings of Savior, a work of fiction about the Master Chief that exaggerates his achievements and exploits to mythical proportions. 2994 also enjoys reading military history and any kind of fiction. He is quite good at chess and often beats the computer at its highest setting. He hopes to one day be capable of beating a true AI at the game. Unlike many of the other HPA agents, 2994 chose not to rename himself after indoctrination, and was referred to by himself and others as "Agent 2994" or "2994". He would later take on the name of Apollo, although he would still use his number to identify himself from time to time. Diary During his time on Midgard, 2994 kept a diary in which he described certain combat actions and goings-on. Capabilities As one of the HPA Program's top agents, 2994 is one of the deadliest fighters ever produced by the UNSC. He prefers mid-ranged combat with a Battle Rifle, but is also excellent at close quarters and is quite capable at long range (this is his weakest area). Like all HPA agents, 2994 is skilled in various martial arts and fighting styles, and with his augmentations can easily kill a Brute in unarmored, hand-to-combat. He is trained in the use of all UNSC and Covenant weaponry, although he has a preference for UNSC weapons over those of the Covenant. 2994 has proved his skill in combat many times over and relishes the knowledge that the odds are stacked against him, enjoying a mission all the more as those odds increase. 2994 can drive most vehicles competently, but prefers to trust his own two feet rather than drive into battle. He has an unconquered fear of heights that makes him always sit as far away from the edge as possible when riding in a Pelican, and he absolutely refuses to use Banshees or Hornets. Like all HPA-trained assassins, he is not a team player and will only work with others unless he is ordered to do so or has no other choice. When he does do so, his definition of "working together" means that he doesn't shoot his teammate and they don't shoot him while the two of them kill the same things. Any other form of planning or coordination is a waste of time in his opinion, as "no battle plan survives contact with the enemy". When working alone, 2994 formulates brief, vague strategies on how to achieve his primary mission objective and then makes his plans as problems come along. Although some of his fellow HPA agents call this way of thinking foolish, Agent 2994 defends it with the simple fact that he has never, ever, failed a mission. Agent 2994's standard weapons are the BR55HB-AR and a standard-issue sidearm. He is also known for his skill in using grenades and his tendency to carry multiple knives on his person, many of which are concealed inside his MJOLNIR armor (with two being ejectable gauntlet knives). Medals Due to the high amount of secrecy and security involved with the HPA program, its members were initially ineligible for medals and recognition, something that at first made 2994 bitter and heightened his dislike of the SPARTANs. As he became less concerned with being recognized for his accomplishments, he began to look down on medals, calling them "fool's gold" and believing that they should not be used as motivation for making soldiers perform better. After HPA agents became eligible for receiving medals, 2994 made a point of refusing every one that he earned. Files Most detailed accounts of Agent 2994's missions are classified, but a few have begun to be declassified: *''Halo: Beckon Forth Sunrise'' (in collaboration RelentlessRecusant) *Halo: Ultimatum(Unfinished) References Category:SPARTAN-IIIs Category:Gamma Company